More books - the proper review I just did and the first two here are from the library. The next one is from Baen Free Library, and the last 4 are from Webscriptions.

"The Cause" by Cynthia Harrod-EaglesThis is the 23rd book in the Morland dynasty series. They are historical novels and follow the Morland family from the time of the War of the Roses, and the plan is to bring it up to the present day. So far we're in Victorian times, and this isn't a bit of history that I'm particularly interested in - but clearly it's either the author's favourite, or she's slowing down to prevent the series coming to an end. This book is primarily about the suffragette cause, and how it impacts the lives of the town and country nobility.

"Year of the Griffin" by Diana Wynne JonesI get new books by Diana Wynne Jones out the library whenever I see them, and about 10 years ago she was one of my favourite authors. Her books tend to be quite 'fun', they're generally quite light-hearted fantasy and this is not an exception. The central character is a griffin, daughter (magically) of one of the most powerful wizards in the land. She is off to the university to learn about magic, somewhat against her father's wishes as he has quite reasonable doubts about the abilities of the university staff to teach magic. The university is short of money so the head decides to send begging letters to the parents off all the new pupils - but it all goes horribly wrong as none of them are there with permission. A fun book.

"Doc Sidhe" by Aaron AllstonThis is another fantasy book - there are two worlds, the fair world (where the sidhe live) and the grim world (ours). And both think the other is a myth, but our hero's girlfriend is the subject of an attempted kidnapping into the fair world. This turns out to be part of a plot to take over both worlds, and somewhat reluctantly he is drawn into saving the worlds! Another fun book, but not one I really want to buy - somehow it felt a little cliched.

"March Upcountry" by David Weber and John RingoThis is a good book - it was the one of this month's webscription books that I was really looking forward to finishing coz I wanted to know what happened next. Prince Roger is your typical arrogant spoilt royal brat. His mother, the Empress, doesn't seem to like him and he has reacted by becoming as much of a fop as possible as all the rest of his illustrious family are known for their practicality etc etc. An assassination attempt is narrowly averted and the spaceship he and his marine guard are travelling in is forced to crash land on a little backwater planet with only one space port. (Yes this is science-fiction, not fantasy). The troops and the Prince set out to trek from their crash to the space port, dealing with the native aliens on the way. Apparently it is a based on a story by Kipling, but I know very little Kipling so I don't know which one. During the trek Prince Roger eventually begins to grow up - and we (and he) find out what the problems between him and his mother are by the end. This is very clearly the first of a series, and I wanna read the next one NOW!

"The Philosophical Strangler" by Eric FlintThis is in here for completeness sake - I read about 2 chapters before decided I didn't like it. It's humourous fantasy, and I very rarely like that sort of thing - only Pratchett that I can think of. It's a shame coz I like other Eric Flint books.

"Soldiers" by John DalmasAlien invasion story - the human race has a huge empire and has settled many planets. There hasn't been a war for centuries so when the aliens are and arrive intent on taking over the empire soldiers have to be trained up. Somehow I wasn't that keen on this. It was ok, and a good idea, I guess I just didn't like the style. For instance at the end there's a chapter which just lists the characters of the story and says what happens to them now the story is over. It's one thing to tie up the loose ends and quite another to be so blatant about it.

"Quincy Morris: Vampire" by P. N. ElrodWhy do modern vampire stories always descend into erotica at points? Just once it'd be nice to read a modern vampire story that didn't, just for variety. Quincy Morris was one of the characters in the Bram Stoker Dracula story - and he was killed at the end of it (I think that's not a invention of this book - it's been a while since I read the original). This story makes Quincy a vampire - although of a different lineage to Dracula - and details the problems he has convincing his friends that he's not a nasty evil creature like Dracula. Oh and he starts a relationship with Lord Godalming's sister, the excuse for erotica in this book.

"Starmind" by Spider and Jeanne RobinsonThis begins as a story about the difficulties a couple face as he wants to work in space but she wants to live in Provincetown like she always has. Once you've spent a certain number of months on a space station you've adapted, and cannot cope with the return to gravity so they have to make a decision about staying together, and about where they want to live. By the end of the book there's other more mystical stuff that I didn't think was as interesting as the original story.